Vice President Joe Biden awarded the Public Safety Officer Medal of Valor to Trooper Robert Lombardo and to the family of slain Trooper Joshua Miller during a White House ceremony.

They're among 18 police, firefighters and public safety officers who received the honor.

“We have a debt we can never repay you,” Biden told the group of recipients. “You’re the heart, you’re the soul, you’re the spine of the nation.”

Miller's wife, Angela, accepted the medal on his behalf. Holding her husband's medal with her emotion evident, she hugged Biden in a long embrace then straightened her face for a photo with the vice president and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.

Biden hung a medal on Lombardo next before a similar photo.

The valor medal is awarded to those who have exhibited exceptional courage, regardless of personal safety, in the attempt to save or protect human life.

Daniel Autenrieth,
armed with a 9mm handgun, on June 7, 2009, took his 9-year-old son,
Trevor, from Susan Autenrieth's home in the 400 block of Union Street. A
40-mile high-speed chase led from Northampton County into Monroe County.

It ended when Miller's cruiser nudged the back of the Palmer Township resident's Honda, causing the Civic to spin 180 degrees into the eastern shoulder of Route 611 in
Coolbaugh Township, Pa. The driver's side
door was pinned shut by a guardrail.

Miller and Lombardo rushed the car, and 11 gunshots were exchanged.
Miller was struck in the right thigh and neck and flown to Lehigh Valley
Hospital in Salisbury Township, where he died.

A new detail the White House released today is that Lombardo’s left arm was paralyzed when Autenrieth shot him in the shoulder. Lombardo, who returned fire despite the injury, has since returned to duty, according to the White House.

Lombardo hit Daniel Autenrieth with all five shots he fired. Autenrieth, who fired three shots, died in the car.

Tatamy police officer Fred Lahovski, who followed the pursuit
from Northampton County, and state Trooper John Osterhout broke
the passenger's side window and pulled Trevor Autenrieth to safety. The
boy was unharmed.

"We have a hero who laid down his life instead of swerving from duty,"
Lt. Col. Lenny Bandy, then lieutenant of operations for the Pennsylvania
State Police, said at the time. "Because of that, there's a 9-year-old
saved and a family without their husband and father."

Miller, the father of three, was a few days shy of 35 years old.

He and Lombardo were stationed at Swiftwater, Pa., at the time of the shootout.

"The death of Trooper Miller and the wounding of Trooper Lombardo
remind us all once again of the dangers that our law enforcement
officers face each day," then-Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell said at the
time.

"Trooper Miller gave his life and Trooper Lombardo risked his life to
rescue the 9-year-old boy," the White House wrote in a description of the
troopers' heroism. "They were/are dedicated officers of the law,
committed to serving the citizens of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania."

***

OTHER VALOR MEDAL HONOREES

Others who received the Public
Safety Officer Medal of Valor posthumously today at the White House are two Viriginia
sheriff
deputies who were off duty when they aided officers wounded by a sniper
at a salvage yard, and a police sergeant shot during a long gunbattle
in a Florida fugitive's house.

The living recipients included
Virginia firefighters who saved a baby from a burning building, an
Arkansas wildlife officer who rammed his truck into the vehicle of a man
shooting at police, and a prison guard who thwarted a Florida inmate
who took another guard hostage in an escape attempt.

The Public
Safety Officer Medal of Valor medal is for “public safety officers who
have exhibited exceptional courage, regardless of personal safety, in
the attempt to save or protect others from harm,” according to the White
House.